Realm of the Tigress
by Elven Chocoholic
Summary: The Fellowship hires an assassin to get rid of Saruman, but there is much more to her than meets the eye. Mary Sue-ish. Chill out on the reviews everyone. The review board sounds like a bad reality TV show!
1. Leaving Lothlorien

I don't like summaries. Just read it!!!!!!!!!

Disclaimer-I own nothing, yadda yadda yadda. 

Chapter 1: Leaving Lothlorien

The Fellowship was waiting, and their thoughts wandered to their most recent decision. While in the golden haven of Lothlorien, the group had made the decision to hire an assassin to get rid of Saruman. Legolas had told Aragorn that before their last day in Moria, he had overheard Gandalf muttering about getting rid of the corrupt wizard. Because doing so had seemed so important to the wizard, it had been resolved that Gandalf's last wish should be honored. The thoughts of the Fellowship ceased as the Lady Galadriel approached them.

"Now that the hour of your departure draws near, I must bid you farewell," she said in her musical voice, "I cannot stay, but your hired assassin will be here shortly. I have suggested to her that she stay with you for a few days before going out to start the job."

At that exact moment, a young woman approached them. She bowed her head to the Lady of the Wood, and then turned her attention to the Fellowship. Dressed in dark elvish garments that easily hid her from searching eyes, she had fair skin, glittering green-blue eyes, and hair that shone with the gold and crimson and chestnut hues of autumn leaves. Legolas caught his breath, and seemed enchanted as he first saw her.

"Are you the Fellowship from Rivendell?" the stranger inquired.

"They are whom you seek," replied Galadriel. To Frodo, who looked somewhat frightened, she said, "Do not fear Ring-bearer. She knows who and what you all are and what you carry." With that, Galadriel left. The assassin bowed her head again, and it seemed to Legolas that she held the Lady in higher regard than most other elves.

"YOU are the assassin?" remarked Aragorn skeptically. Before he could blink, the she-elf had drawn a sword from a richly adorned sheath and held it against the Ranger's neck.

"What?" she asked the Man, who seemed amazed at her speed, "You don't think I'm good enough? I have killed for over two thousand years. I can handle any and every weapon. I can fight as well as anyone who is worth challenging and if you don't like it, I could easily kill you where you stand. It would not bother me in the least." She removed the sword and looked at him, "Do not worry, Aragorn son of Arathorn. I only come along with all of you to do what I have been hired to carry out. I am Nevaraniel, the elven assassin. I only kill those who threaten me or those that I am hired to kill. Shall we depart?"

* * * * *

After the first day of travelling down the great river, the Fellowship had made camp. Nevaraniel was showing the ever-curious hobbits some of her weapons, when Legolas approached them. 

"Nevaraniel," he said softly, "Aragorn is still worried about your…erm…threat earlier. May I have your word that you are not here for the..the..."

"The Ring?"

"Yes. The Ring. I see you do know about it."

Nevaraniel casually tossed a silver dagger behind her, landing it exactly in the center of a knothole on a beech tree. Merry opened his hobbity eyes wide in surprise. "Don't worry. You hired me to slay Saruman, and that is what I am here to do. Call me Nevi, by the way. Nevaraniel takes too long to say." She turned abruptly at a noise behind her, and saw Pippin, who was holding up a small vial full of a thick red liquid that had fallen out of her bag. Sharply, she spoke to the hobbits, "Never, I repeat NEVER, touch that." The hobbit looked at her, obviously hurt. Nevi softened her voice, "I apologize, but that is dragon's blood. It is unbelievably expensive, and extremely poisonous. One drop of it in your bloodstream will paralyze you upon contact, and kill you in less than fifteen seconds. I will also warn you, many of my knives and arrows are tipped with the venom of certain snakes. I assume that you do not want to accidentally infect yourselves with something like that?" Nevi retrieved her knife from the knothole, put it in her bag, and walked off into the woods.

Meanwhile, Sam was preparing some fish that Aragorn had caught. Legolas approached the Man, who was relaxing nearby.

"Don't worry, Aragorn, I trust her when she says she is not here for the Ring. And she only 'threatened' you because you seemed so skeptical of her abilities." 

"You had better be right. Where is she now?" the Man asked. Just as Legolas was about to answer, Nevi came into the clearing with an armload of fruit.

"But I just made dinner!" Sam said, "Fresh fish and everything!"

"I'm sorry," Nevi replied, "I'm not used to having someone else get food. I'll try the fish though."

"You'd better..." muttered Sam, obviously disappointed that she might not be eating his cooking, which he was quite proud of.

The rest of the Fellowship arrived to eat, and plans of what to do the next day were discussed. Some wanted to go south, to continue on their original path to Mordor, but others wanted to change course and go north to Isengard and rid themselves of Saruman. 

"Oh come on Strider!" Frodo protested, "we have to destroy the Ring first! It's the assassin's job! Not ours!"

"I know how important that is, but Saruma-"

"…Strider? You are called Strider?" interrupted Nevi, cautiously.

"Yes," replied the Ranger, "I am also known as Strider by some. It is just a nickname for me."

"The one and only!" declared Merry, brightly.

"Oh my God…I…I'll be back soon. I will go get more water," murmured the assassin as she left the group. Legolas rose to follow her.

"Hmm," said Gimli, who had fish bones stuck in his teeth, "Must not like that name!"

* * * * *

Legolas found Nevi sitting by a stream a little ways away from everyone else. Her head was in her hands, and she was pale.

"What is bothering you? Are you sick? Did we do something wrong?" asked the elven prince.

Startled, she quickly hid a small bunch of herbs behind her back and looked up. "Oh…don't worry, no one did anything wrong. I can't really tell you. I just don't feel too well, that's all…" she trailed off and sighed. "Do you expect me to do my job, and will none of you do anything to stop me from doing it?" the assassin asked suddenly.

"Yes, of course we want you to get rid of Saruman and do your job," with a small smile he added, "I don't think most of us could stop you, anyway."

Nevi laughed, whatever had bothered her so much before seeming less important. She picked up a jug of water. The two elves returned to the Fellowship.

* * * * *

It was the middle of the night, and Nevi had taken her turn at the watch. She packed her bag, preparing to leave shortly. The assassin put on a different pair of shoes, which would make her light footsteps even less noticeable that usual. They would not be able to find her now. She knew what she had to do. Uncorking the vial of dragon's blood, she silently dipped in the point of a silver knife. She closed the bottle, and put it back in her bag. As quietly as possible, she crept near to the fire where everyone was sleeping. The kill had to be quick and silent, but it was no use risking an attack while others were awake, even if she did manage to break them up for a short while. If he fought her, she would win, but it was too likely that he would make noise. Hopefully, the herbs she had dissolved in the water would keep them all asleep longer. Her mother had taught her about all plants and their uses as a child, and she never minded exercising that knowledge. Nevi had done this many times before. She did not hesitate as she knelt down and held the poisoned knife at his throat…

Ooh! Cliffhanger! Mawahahaha. I'll update faster if you review it…wow…what a concept…


	2. Caught in the Act

Gee, so many lovely reviews. Just a few notes for some of you:

Kelli- Thank you for the nice review! I feel so special!

Canon Police- Bite me.

Nimbrethil T.- Wow. You like to complain. First- this is supposed to be fiction and not exactly like the book. Next- Most of the stories on here do not follow things that happened in the books. All I am using are the characters, NOT THE PLOT. The only thing I really had a problem with was your remark about how the Fellowship would never allow a WOMAN to travel with them, which I found REALLY sexist (Seriously people, go read the review! Most of it is pretty entertaining, but the last line basically screams sexist).

Disclaimer: I only own chocolate. That's it. Soon I won't own it any more 'cause I'm about to eat it!!!!!!!!!!

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Chapter 2: Caught in the Act

…she did not hesitate as she knelt down and held the poisoned knife at his throat. But a thought stopped her. She knew that nothing was supposed to stop an assassin, but the group she was traveling with relied so much on Aragorn son of Arathorn. Nevi needed to stop delaying. She _had _to do it. Her employer had hired her to kill Strider, and even if Strider _was_ a future king, she could not refuse an assignment. 

Suddenly, someone seized her arms and pinned them behind her. In that moment of confusion, Nevi made the worst mistake any assassin could: she dropped her knife. The elven huntress kicked her leg up over her head, knocking her attacker in the chest. She heard him groan, and as soon as the grip on her arms lessened, Nevi wrenched herself free and spun around to see her enemy. It was Legolas, and he was reaching for his arrows. Eyes blazing with anger, Nevaraniel quickly retrieved her fallen blade. The two elves stood facing each other, silently waiting for a moment to attack.

"What the hell were you doing?" hissed Legolas. When she did not immediately respond and only gave him a defiant look, the prince sighed and whispered, "Lets go into the forest where we won't wake anyone up." Nevi glanced at the sleeping bunch and reluctantly nodded.

About a quarter of a mile in, Legolas stopped. Nevi came up next to him a moment later.

"What the hell were you doing?" demanded Legolas.

"I was baking you a cake," Nevi replied sarcastically, "I think it was obvious. I was about to kill Aragorn. And by the way- if you are bringing me out here to kill me for what I was about to do, I guarantee you will end up with at the very least a broken jawbone and a few cracked ribs."

Legolas set his bow down on the ground. "I did not come out here to murder you," he said, "But why were you going to kill Aragorn?"

Nevi set her knife on the ground

"I was going to kill him because that is what I do. I thought you understood that I am an assassin."

"But why Aragorn? We hired you to kill Saruman!"

"Because I was hired to by someone else, you idiot!" Nevi shouted, "I didn't even know that Aragorn was Strider. He told me 'I need you to kill Strider. This is very important. It will be worth a half million, more if you do it this month.' I just accepted it like any other assignment. I'm sorry it affects all of you, okay?"

Legolas sat down beside her, "Do you really need money or something? Who hired you?" 

"Some guy named Wormtongue. Until you stopped me- you musn't have had any of the water I put the herbs in- I was just going to kill the Ranger and go find Saruman myself," suddenly Nevi's depressed mood lightned, and she laughed, "You think I'm poor, don't you? Well guess what? I am freakin' RICH! I get damn good money for being one of the most skilled assassins in middle earth."

"The Fellowship would probably think I should kill you now, but if you won't run away and if tomorrow you will tell everyone what you to tried to, I won't," Legolas said.

Nevi stood up and laughed, the fire in her eyes once more, "What would keep me from escaping? Would you tie me up like some prisoner?" 

"Well, yes," Legolas replied evenly.

"Like hell you will!" Nevaraniel spat, reaching for the dagger on her back. Her fingers closed on the handle of the dagger, but Legolas reached his bow first, and stood, ready to shoot. There was no way she would be able to draw her knife without him shooting her first. Nevi hated giving up, but she couldn't attack the elven prince when he was already prepared to shoot. She dropped her hand from her back. "Let's just go back. I promise I won't run off- you well know how well that Ranger could track me."

"All right," Legolas replied, "But I'll be watching you."

* * * * *

It was late in the morning, and Nevi groggily awoke. She felt somewhat disoriented, then she looked down and saw that her hands were tied. "LEGOLAS!!! GET YOUR ROYAL ELVISH BUTT OVER HERE!!!" Nevi yelled. He walked over, and began to reach for the ropes on Nevi's wrists. 

"I see you're awake. I'll untie you, chill out," he said, laughing. Before he could touch the ropes, the elven assassin pulled her hands free from the ropes. "What?" Nevaraniel asked the astonished elf, "You thought I can't untie a knot? I just called you over here to tell you what a double crossing JERK you are!"

"Hey!" Legolas countered, "_You_ are the double crossing one!" The other members of the fellowship glanced over at the argument. "I think that Nevaraniel has something she'd like to tell us!" Legolas said smugly. Nevaraniel glared at him.

So what did you think? No flames please, all I do with those is use 'em to toast marshmallows. I need a good name for a character in an upcoming chapter, so if you want to you can submit an elvish name. It will probably show up in chapter 5 or 6.


	3. A Secret Revealed

Thank you too all my reviewers!!! I feel so loved. Chocolate chip cookies for all of you!!! *Authoress thinks…should she actually give away chocolate?…hmmmm* No, on second thought, you can have the peanut butter cookies! 

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Chapter 3: A Secret Revealed

… Nevaraniel glared at him. "Fine," she said, standing up, "May I have everyone's attention please! I have something important to tell you all, because Mr. Royalty over there thinks I should," Nevi waited for Frodo, Sam, Merry, Pippin, Aragorn, and Gimli to get assembled (Boromir is not in this fic because I don't like him, and Gandalf is gone because he is "dead"). The elvish assassin stood before them, and began:

"As you know, I am an assassin. What you probably didn't realize is that I am one of the Five Elves of the Ruby Tigress, and no, that has nothing to do with the rings of power," Nevi said, glancing at Frodo, who looked very paranoid. She pushed up the sleeve of her cloak, revealing an elaborately decorated bracelet in the shape of a tiger. It was set with many rubies, but had emeralds for eyes. "The Five are the most skilled, the most powerful of all elvish assassins," she continued. "We are always sought out by others to do their killing. You all have no idea how lucky you were to get me, because it is near impossible to get anyone in the Five. Anyway, your assignment for me to kill Saruman is not the only one I am on," Nevi took a deep breath, "I was also hired by someone else to kill one of you, but Legolas stopped me last night. None of you heard us…arguing…because I slipped some herbs in your water that caused you to sleep very deeply," Sam stepped protectively in front of Frodo. Nevi sighed, "Don't worry- I've already told you, I am NOT after the damn Ring! …I didn't know who my target really was until I came with you, but I was hired to kill you, Strider."

Strider rushed forward in rage, drawing his sword. Nevi instinctively ran at the Ranger, and flipped over him, drawing her own sword. (A/N-I'm sorry, I'll try not to be too Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon here.) She kicked the sword from his hand, and Aragorn quickly bent to pick it up. Simultaneously, Nevaraniel drew an arrow with a leaf covering on the point, dipped the tip in the campfire, and set the flaming arrow on her bow.

"Aragorn, I would not move if I were you!" Legolas warned, his blue eyes wide.

"Why? I am going to kill that assassin NOW!"

Legolas whipped out his bow and stood beside the elven assassin. "You have no idea of how skilled the Five are," he said, "Nevi, would you care to tell Aragorn what the weapon is that you are holding?"

"Legolas, put down your bow, I don't need your help. This is not a normal arrow I am holding," Nevaraniel began, "These are specially made for the Five- they are lighter but do much more damage. This one is a Flaming Dragon. Do any of you know what a Flaming Dragon is?"

"Sounds like a cocktail!" Pippin exclaimed, "Does it come in pints?"

"Um, no," Nevi replied, "A Flaming Dragon is one of our arrows with dragon blood on the tip. We cover them in leaves to keep the poison active, and ignite the leaf. The heat makes the poison about ten times more deadly, so if you do not wish to die now, Ranger, I suggest you drop your sword."

"Ha! Only if you swear not to kill me while I sleep!"

"I don't know what I am going to do, I've never refused a job, but I promise on my rank as one of the Five that I will not attack you if you don't have a fighting chance. Agreed?"

Aragorn looked doubtful, but finally he spoke, "Agreed."

* * * * *

It was the middle of the afternoon, and the Fellowship had finally made the decision to go north to Isengard. Aragorn was still angry with Nevaraniel for trying to kill him, Nevi was mad at Legolas for making her tell everyone what she tried to do the previous night, and Legolas was upset because he had to keep the two apart. They were getting along a little better than in the morning, but there was still tension.

"So, how do we get to Isengard?" Frodo asked, "It will take a long time to walk all the way…"

Nevi laughed, "Walk? I am _not_ walking all the way!" She let out a loud whistle, like the call of a starling. The hobbits looked at her strangely. Soon the sound of hoof beats was audible, and a jet black horse galloped into the clearing.

"Where did THAT come from?!" asked Gimli incredulously. 

"THAT is my horse, and he has been following us the entire time, I just told him to wait until I need him."

The horse came up to Nevaraniel, and she climbed up on its back.

"Do you all mind if I go on ahead, or do I need to find more horses?" inquired the assassin. Before anyone could answer, a group of about ten orcs came crashing into the clearing. Nevi swore, setting two arrows on her bow. She sent them flying, killing two orcs. The rest of the Fellowship drew their weapons, and joined the fight. Leaping off of her horse and toward the campfire, Nevi took out one of her Flaming Dragon arrows and lit it. She shot it at the most heavily armored orc, and it fell immediately. Legolas was busy with his own bow, the others doing the same with their own weapons, and, of course, Aragorn looked overjoyed to be killing something.

"Look out!" yelled Pippin to Nevaraniel.

"Whoa!" An arrow was speeding towards her, and as she dodged it Nevi drew a knife and threw it at the orc who had the nerve to attack her. The knife hit its target, and the one remaining orc that was still alive had decided to run. Legolas let one last arrow fly, and the orcs were no more.

"Well," said Nevi, cheeks flushed from the battle, "as I was saying before I was so rudely interrupted, do I need to find more horses?"

Nevaraniel sent off her horse to bring back five more for the Fellowship (A/N- yes, the horse is capable of bringing more horses, it's a SPECIAL horse, okay?).

"I wonder what the orcs were looking for?" Merry said.

"Oh, I'm sure they were just on a scavenger hunt," replied Frodo sarcastically, rolling his eyes.

"They were Uruk-hai, didn't you see the white hand on them?" asked Nevaraniel, "They were either after me or the Ring-bearer."

"Uruk-whatsa?" asked Gimli.

"Uruk-hai. They're Saruman's orcs. They can go out in broad daylight and not be bothered," answered Aragorn.

"There will be more," Nevi stated flatly, "We must leave as soon as the horses come."

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Ok, I know that wasn't the most exciting chapter, but the next chapter should be pretty good! Please go review! The review button is your friend. And keep those Elf names coming! I need one male and one female elven name. 


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